Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Glee - Special Education review

Now that’s more like season one, Glee! The only thing missing was more humor, more lightness, and more (or really any) Sue Sylvester. Other than that, it was a sweet episode with drama, no WTF? moments (like the Beiste kiss), and devoid of a glaring theme. Next week, we go to a Christmas theme, so enjoy the goodness this week while it lasts.

The show must be reading what critics and commenters have written about Glee: That it focuses too much on its main players and doesn’t showcase the whole cast. For the record, it was never this blogger writing that. The show caved to these people by not having Rachel’s awesome voice solo at Sectionals. Giant fail. It should be Sam/Rachel with the opening solos, because we think they have the best guy/girl voices right now, but we guess it’s tradition to have a couple walk down the stage aisles for that cheesy opening. Quinn, Sam, and Santana had the major solos (although we heard you hit a power note at the end, Mercedes, you sly minx), and they all have nice voices. So it was … nice. Actually, Quinn’s vocals were too breathy and the song ("(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life") was forgettable. Santana’s cover of "Valerie" was better. We loved her headgear. Will’s best decision was to have Brittany and Mike out front busting moves.

In real life, Will would be an amazing teacher for doing this. School is about learning, finding yourself, and building confidence. Getting the kids to work as a team (even if he had to yell at them a lot and snap at Rachel) and share the spotlight is good. In REALITY, arts teachers have about two-to-three favorites they overuse, and they creepily hang out and joke with them. It's like a lame clique. Anyone in the high school arts knows what we are saying.

Everyone freaks out when Rachel is aggressive and goes after what she wants. Little known fact (for a reason, because it’s lame): Ern was in the show choir in high school. Don’t laugh. You had to AUDITION to get to wear those lame sequins and falls, and it counted as school credit. But if you wanted a solo, you had to fight for it. If you want to be successful, you have to push yourself out there. Granted, you also want to be classy, nice, and not tick off the wrong people, but that’s called maturity, and Rachel is 16.

Speaking of Rachel, we loved seeing this character get screen time after such a long absence from the story spotlight, even if it was only about her relationship with Finn. Ok, ok, it was about her trying to be nicer as well. And we have been rooting for the return of Puckleberry. But why did it have to be over even faster than it was last time? We felt so warm and happy inside when Rachel and Finn made up, and we shrieked when Rachel told him that she’d almost had her Berry Pucked. This couple was dragging down the storyline though. Even though they are cute, and we like them, we like this development. And we knew that “I’ll never break up with you” stuff was going to bite them in the butts. We wish Rachel hadn't betrayed Finn so harshly and selfishly, especially when everyone knows how sensitive Finn would be about this particular development. She needs a big storyline where she develops some compassion and love of others, because the only time we like her is when we feel sorry for her ... or when she sings. She needs some good traits. Why, after all this time, are they completely ruining, and sometimes dropping, this character? Her loyalty to Finn was one of her few redeeming qualities. Now what are they? Her haircut and being nice to Kurt?

We hope the Rachel and Kurt friendship sticks and develops. He seems to soften her, and maybe she can toughen him up. And they both need non-romantic friends right now. They were so sweet together that it made us sure that Lea Michele and Chris Colfer get along in real life. Kurt’s realization that The Warblers aren’t all that was interesting, yet annoying. The Warblers are all about fitting in (unless you are Blaine, the star) and not being bullied. New Directions is about standing out and sometimes being bullied for it. We liked Lea’s version of "Don’t Cry for Me Argentina" the best (the solo versions can be downloaded on iTunes), and we wondered why this show keeps giving Kurt women’s songs. His voice isn’t THAT high. He can do low too, and there are some great high guy songs out there.

Two songs we haven’t mentioned yet: "Hey Soul Sister" and "Dog Days Are Over". "Hey Soul Sister", sung by The Warblers, wasn’t nearly as impressive as "Teenage Dream", but it was better than the original Train song, which stays in such a high place all the time that it’s annoying. We wish they had done something else, because who isn’t sick of that song? "Dog Days Are Over" was better. We wish Tina’s voices was less bland and more distinctive. We never know when it is her singing. We like the original version of the song better, but this was cute. One of us wishes they had sung this song at Sectionals.

Brittany and Artie were adorable this episode, but in the back of our minds, we wonder how he could date someone that dumb. What, his handicap cancels hers out? Still, Tina needs to step off. Go enjoy your Asian kisses, Tina (LOL). And sorry Wemma fans, Emma is married, and Will is still wretched. Team Carl all the way. And Emma, what’s with the horrible Florence-Henderson-needs-a-haircut haircut?

We love the newest Glee club member, Laura, who had the laugh-out-loud quote of the night: “I’m not nervous. You know why? Because show choir is stupid.” And we loved that she rocked Puck’s world in kisses. Her laid-back, dry humor is just what this show needs at this point.

5 comments:

"...we shrieked when Rachel told him that she’d almost had her Berry Pucked." Still laughing...

I really like Rachel-centric episodes. She's still my favorite character, even though she made an exceptionally poor decision to almost cheat on Finn, who is going to have lots of issues with women to sort through during the next couple of decades of his life. She OWNED that Evita son, btw.

Agree about "Dog Days". It made me smile, but no one will ever be able to do that song like FloMac. And, yeah, Tina's no Rachel Berry.

How fun was it when Mike and Tina made up with an "Asian kiss"? Mike Chang is sooo my under-the-radar crush.

Yay Team Carl! More Stamos! We need more Stamos!

Ern, some of us were aware that you have a lovely singing voice, but we had no idea you went the show choir route. This makes some of us happy. Are there pictures/videos? Did you keep the costumes?

My first reaction was "Finally, a real episode!" I was right beside you guys for most of the season, wondering why we had to have themes and Super Guest Stars for every episode, and this episode went back to the sheer goodness that is Glee. So it might be my favorite of the season so far.

That being said...

Rachel is SO my girl. When she strutted into the choir room with duct tape on her mouth--that was carefully pre-peeled so she could still interject her complaints--I just about died. As petty and immature as it is, it's toootally something I would've done at her age. Take that, Will, you silence your best singer and she will fight back. But I wanted to jack Will in the face. As a teacher, yes he should've snapped at his kids when they were being immature. But I just think he was an all-around jerk this episode. He once again changed his mind the moment Emma opened her mouth, and he forced that onto his Glee kids, ignoring their disagreements. I've been saying that I want a song from Quinn, but not The Solo at Sectionals.

Rachel/Finn/Puck... le sigh. I loooove Puckleberry and was way impressed with Puck put a stop to what would have been a big mistake. Rachel was petty and mean and stupid... but Finn is an idiot. He knows that Rachel will go to any lengths when she feels wronged, and she felt WRONGED. I get her thinking... even if I disagree with it.

Basically, this episode cemented (again) the deep dislike for Will, disdain for Finn, sheer love for and exasperation with Rachel, and the sincere belief that Rachel and Kurt would make the BEST of friends. Finally some good songs, some general character coverage, and a return to real Glee.

We agree with you both. The show should hire the two of you as consultants. We think it's our favorite too, although Leeard really liked the Britney Spears episode, because she loves Britney Spears. We looked back, and this one has gotten the best grade from us.

All evidence of Ern's show choir days have been destroyed. It wasn't like New Directions. It was lame. But at least Ern got credit.

About the bloggers

Ern is a lawyer. Ern's all-time favorite shows are LOST and Breaking Bad. Other favorites include Homeland and South Park. She also enjoys opera, water skiing, arguing, and movies. Ern responds to most of the comments, because they go directly to her phone. Ern also starts most of the posts and leaves them half done, as drafts, for Leeard to finish. As far as international visitors go, Ern is excited to see visitors from Germany, the UK, and Israel.

Leeard is a technology consultant and a nice Italian Catholic girl. Leeard's all-time favorite show is Gilmore Girls, but her favorite shows on right now are Game of Thrones, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries. Leeard can do your taxes, loves sports, and has an insane amount of pop culture knowledge. Leeard is excited to see visitors from Russia and Poland because she speaks conversational Russian and Polish (and Spanish).

We started this blog because of our insane addictions to TV. We thought that, while we were "wasting our lives," we would at least get writing and thinking practice out of it.